40 years.

According to the news this morning the new head of the army foresees British involvement in Afghanistan lasting up to another 40 years.

Given the constant rate of attrition against British forces and given that the idea of what is supposed to be being achieved there constantly changes, you wonder if the British population and indeed the peoples of the other nations involved in tghis mess will stand for it for another 40 months, particularly as it is clear to everyone except Gordon Brown and the rest of the political class that the main organising centre for terrorist attacks is not Afghanistan but Pakistan and the main idealogical and financial base for islamic fundamentalism remains, as it always has been Saudi Arabia.